Marty Abezetian has been named the director of training and video review for the NCAA Softball Umpire Program.
Abezetian brings 17 seasons of collegiate softball umpiring experience, including working the Women’s College World Series in 2025 and 2026 and the 2016 NCAA Division II Softball Championship. He also was crew chief for video review for the 2022 and 2023 regionals and super regionals and Women’s College World Series, in addition to having multiple regional and super regional assignments across all three divisions.
This is a return to the Softball Umpire Program for Abezetian. He previously served six years as the softball video services coordinator and transitioned into two years as the first director of training and video review for the program.
As the director of training and video review, he will provide leadership in the areas of education and training of softball umpires and will support the NCAA’s commitment to improving the overall quality and consistency of softball umpiring throughout collegiate softball.
The position will assist in helping to promote better and more consistent information of NCAA softball rules, umpiring, interpretations and mechanics, in addition to the continued development and maintenance of the video review process.
“Returning to the SUP in this capacity is an incredible honor. Softball is growing at an unprecedented pace, and our officiating infrastructure must evolve with it,” Abezetian said. “My focus will be on delivering a unified training philosophy for umpires across Divisions I, II and III, while continuing to build a transparent, leading-edge video review mechanism that ensures impartiality and enhances public trust. We owe it to the student-athletes, coaches and fans to ensure our on-field processes and video review protocols are executed at the highest possible standard.”
During his previous stint with the Softball Umpire Program, he was instrumental in advising the softball rules committee in the development of the video review rule, implementing the video review process and developing the communication philosophies relative to video review.
“We are excited to welcome back Marty as the director of training and video review for NCAA softball,” said Steve McCown, NCAA national coordinator of softball umpires. “He brings a unique combination of extensive umpiring experience, institutional knowledge, video production and collaboration, and a strong background in technology and emerging officiating development.” Abezetian also is a replay official for the National Football League and previously served as a replay official for NCAA Football Championship Subdivision and Football Bowl Subdivision regular-season and postseason/bowl games.
